MONSTAR Keeps Singing After The Departure Of ERIK With Newest Member GREY-D

Earlier this year -- in February, to be exact -- everybody's favorite Sau Tất Cả singer, ERIK, chucked the deuces up and peaced out on MONSTAR in a move that shocked and surprised many ST.319 supporters. ERIK is the second big Vpop star to have call it quits with the youth entertainment group ST.319. Like MIN, who I admittedly still refer to as MIN from ST.319, ERIK is now flying solo without the ST.319 banner by his name. I tend to believe that where there's smoke, there's fire, and this is the second time already that a rising ST.319 star decided to leave the management group all of a sudden. If that isn't a clear sign that something isn't all it's cracked up to be with ST.319, then I don't know what more evidence you need. With all I know about the shady world of Kpop slave contracts, I wouldn't be surprised if young Vpop singers are getting the same shitty treatment that many Kpop idols get. Actually, it's probably worse since there's less money in Vpop.

As they say, the show must go on. With only two members remaining on the 5-man boy band project known as MONSTAR, ST.319 desperately needed to find a third member because, let's be real here, ERIK was the only MONSTAR member who could sing. You're not going to depend on the rapper and the dancer/visual of the group to sing, would ya? Shit, I wouldn't. MONSTAR was like a basketball team with players who could only pass, rebound, and defend. At the end of the day, you still need someone to put the ball into the basket to win games. Like a basketball organization that just lost it's star player in free agency, MONSTAR needed to sign someone quickly to replace the massive hole in their roster. GREY-D, better known as Đoàn Thế Lân from Sing My Song, seems to be that desperation signing that ST.319 needed to turn things around. I said Đoàn Thế Lân was a name to watch out for in 2017, and it seems the young boy is finally making some big moves. I approve of the signing, but disapprove of the name. GREY-D? That's one of the worst stage names I have ever heard! Terrible!

ST.319 now looks ready to move on from the lost of ERIK. Of course, they had to run a quick smear campaign against ERIK first before they trotted out their new star in Đoàn Thế Lân.1 Just like when MIN left, ST.319 went hard on promoting the new face of ST.319. In 2016, it was ERIK. In 2017, it's now GREY-D. Since announcing him as MONSTAR's lead vocalist, GREY-D already has been featured on a Kai Dinh remix with HER as well as a Jimmi Nguyễn cover song. In the ST.319 "special project" Và Tôi Hát, GREY-D makes a splashy debut as MONSTAR's newest member. All of this marketing around GREY-D reminds me of how sports team will always put extra effort in marketing new players to try to retain fans even after a bad roster turnover. Only here, MONSTAR is still playing with an incomplete roster. But that doesn't matter because they can just release a commercialized version of an old song and still get that Pepsi money. In my opinion, Và Tôi Đi is a way better song than the obvious cash grab that is Và Tôi Hát.

Even though I think Và Tôi Hát is just an inferior version of Và Tôi Đi, I'm glad that this new MONSTAR MV exists because perhaps more people will now discover the magic that is Và Tôi Đi by the artist formerly known as Đoàn Thế Lân.

Notes

A smear campaign is a strategy of trying to save face by placing blame and defaming a person through nefarious means of public slander. It happens all the time. After Jessica was kicked out of SNSD, what happened? All sorts of BS rumors started "leaking" onto the internet. Smear campaign! Sport teams do this all the time too. When a certain star player leaves, all of a sudden rumors about so-and-so not playing hard or being a distraction to the team start "leaking" to the press. Smear campaign! ↩

A Vpop fan who likes to use obscure references in his sad attempts at humor. As a long time fan of Kpop, Jpop, and Cpop -- he hopes to see Vpop become just as popular.

USA

MONSTAR Keeps Singing After The Departure Of ERIK With Newest Member GREY-DEarlier this year -- in February, to be exact -- everybody's favorite **Sau Tất Cả** singer, **ERIK**, chucked the deuces up and peaced out on **MONSTAR** in a move that shocked and surprised many **ST.319** supporters. ERIK is the second big Vpop star to have call it quits with the youth entertainment group ST.319. Like **MIN**, who I admittedly still refer to as MIN from ST.319, ERIK is now flying solo without the ST.319 banner by his name. I tend to believe that where there's smoke, there's fire, and this is the second time already that a rising ST.319 star decided to leave the management group all of a sudden. If that isn't a clear sign that something isn't all it's cracked up to be with ST.319, then I don't know what more evidence you need. With all I know about the shady world of Kpop slave contracts, I wouldn't be surprised if young Vpop singers are getting the same shitty treatment that many Kpop idols get. Actually, it's probably worse since there's less money in Vpop.
[![ERIK denied the money envelope.](http://i.imgur.com/jt4e2T5.jpg "MONSTAR members have problems sharing.")](http://i.imgur.com/jt4e2T5.jpg)
As they say, the show must go on. With only two members remaining on the 5-man boy band project known as MONSTAR, ST.319 desperately needed to find a third member because, let's be real here, ERIK was the only MONSTAR member who could sing. You're not going to depend on the rapper and the dancer/visual of the group to sing, would ya? Shit, I wouldn't. MONSTAR was like a basketball team with players who could only pass, rebound, and defend. At the end of the day, you still need someone to put the ball into the basket to win games. Like a basketball organization that just lost it's star player in free agency, MONSTAR needed to sign someone quickly to replace the massive hole in their roster. **GREY-D**, better known as **Đoàn Thế Lân** from **Sing My Song**, seems to be that desperation signing that ST.319 needed to turn things around. I said [Đoàn Thế Lân was a name to watch out for in 2017](http://vpopfan.com/2016/12/30/upcoming-vietnamese-artists-from-sing-my-song-bai-hat-hay-nhat-to-look-out-for-in-2017/ " target="_blank), and it seems the young boy is finally making some big moves. I approve of the signing, but disapprove of the name. GREY-D? That's one of the worst stage names I have ever heard! Terrible!
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/NNNXehWXa0A?rel=0&amp;showinfo=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
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ST.319 now looks ready to move on from the lost of ERIK. Of course, they had to run a quick smear campaign against ERIK first before they trotted out their new star in Đoàn Thế Lân.[^1] Just like when MIN left, ST.319 went hard on promoting the new face of ST.319. In 2016, it was ERIK. In 2017, it's now GREY-D. Since announcing him as MONSTAR's lead vocalist, GREY-D already has been featured on a **Kai Dinh** remix with **HER** as well as a [Jimmi Nguyễn cover song](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FuDjBc6PQxM " target="_blank" rel="nofollow). In the ST.319 "special project" **Và Tôi Hát**, GREY-D makes a splashy debut as MONSTAR's newest member. All of this marketing around GREY-D reminds me of how sports team will always put extra effort in marketing new players to try to retain fans even after a bad roster turnover. Only here, MONSTAR is still playing with an incomplete roster. But that doesn't matter because they can just release a commercialized version of an old song and still get that Pepsi money. In my opinion, **Và Tôi Đi** is a way better song than the obvious cash grab that is *Và Tôi Hát*.
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/DHnbkEMg15s?rel=0&amp;showinfo=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
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Even though I think *Và Tôi Hát* is just an inferior version of *Và Tôi Đi*, I'm glad that this new MONSTAR MV exists because perhaps more people will now discover the magic that is *Và Tôi Đi* by the artist formerly known as Đoàn Thế Lân.
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Notes
[^1]: A smear campaign is a strategy of trying to save face by placing blame and defaming a person through nefarious means of public slander. It happens all the time. After Jessica was kicked out of SNSD, what happened? All sorts of BS rumors started "leaking" onto the internet. Smear campaign! Sport teams do this all the time too. When a certain star player leaves, all of a sudden rumors about so-and-so not playing hard or being a distraction to the team start "leaking" to the press. Smear campaign!Please enable JavaScript to view comments